Is Doncaster, Yorkshire a nice place to live?

Is Doncaster a nice place to live or is Doncaster a bit rough? For us there are a number of factors that make any town a nice place to live, like a low crime rate, low levels of deprivation, the good health of the residents, rent affordability and excellent wages. In this article we will see if Doncaster meets our criteria.

How likely are you to a victim of crime in Doncaster?

The English Indices of Deprivation has a crime element for Doncaster. They are a measure of how likely you are to be a victim of personal or material crime in an area, such as muggings or burglary. Naturally rural areas have less crime than urban areas, but for this part of our town assessment we've looked at the 10 wards nearest to the centre of Doncaster. To pass this section, 8 out of 10 of these wards need to be above the English national average rank of 16422.5

#	Ward	Crime Rank
1	Sprotbrough	14759
2	Armthorpe	13842
3	Bessacarr	10927
4	Roman Ridge	10480
5	Balby South	6772
6	Bentley	5793
7	Wheatley Hills & Intake	5613
8	Edlington & Warmsworth	4355
9	Town	3937
10	Hexthorpe & Balby North	2939

Is Doncaster a healthy place to live?

If you are thinking of moving to Doncaster, you want to know if the place is likely to put you on a downward spiral of ill health. For this section of the town assessment, we've examined government health statistics from the 2021 Census General Health question and the Indices of Multiple Deprivation's health element.The table below shows what percentage of Doncaster residents answered saying their health was either bad or very bad. To pass this section, the local authority has to have a percentage score less than or equal to 7%.

Local Authority	%
Selby	4.35
Doncaster (Doncaster)	6.86
Rotherham	7.05
Barnsley	7.51

The English Indices of Deprivation also has health statistics for Doncaster. They measures the risk of premature death and the impairment of quality of life through poor physical or mental health, lovely! We've collated an average LSOA rank for 10 wards nearest to the centre of Doncaster. To pass this section, 8 out of 10 of these wards need to be above the English national average rank of 16422.5.

#	Ward	Health Rank
1	Sprotbrough (Best)	13904
2	Bessacarr	12366
3	Roman Ridge	11352
4	Armthorpe	8206
5	Bentley	8042
6	Wheatley Hills & Intake	7927
7	Edlington & Warmsworth	7519
8	Town	7360
9	Balby South	6955
10	Hexthorpe & Balby North (Worst)	5102

Is Doncaster rough?

Using the English Indices of Deprivation statistics, we've collated the average rank for 10 wards in and around Doncaster. In layman's terms, this is how rough the ward is based on mutiple measures of deprivation including; employment, income, health, crime, housing and outside space. To pass this section as the town assessment, 8 out of 10 wards must have a ranking higher than the English average of 16422.5

#	Ward	Deprivation Rank
1	Sprotbrough	19941
2	Bessacarr	16696
3	Roman Ridge	15711
4	Armthorpe	14021
5	Wheatley Hills & Intake	9510
6	Bentley	9344
7	Edlington & Warmsworth	9002
8	Balby South	8828
9	Town	7689
10	Hexthorpe & Balby North	4844

How affordable are the rents in Doncaster?

Every six months the Office for National statitics publishes a snapshot of rental costs. These market rental statistics are dated September 2023. We have used the median rental figure for this assessment as we believe this is a more realistic figure than the average (mean) that can be skewed by artificially low and high rents. To pass this section, Doncaster rents for each size property have to be less than 5% more than the median rent for South Yorkshire.

Beds	Doncaster	South Yorkshire
1	£400	£520
2	£515	£550
3	£595	£595
4	£850	£895

How much can I earn in Doncaster per week?

If you are thinking of moving to Doncaster, you'll want to know how much you can earn in a job in the town. Every year the government publishes statistics on gross weekly pay, these figures are for September 2023. To pass this section Doncaster's local authority needs to be in first or second place compared to the three nearest local authorities.

#	Local Authority	Median Pw
1	Barnsley	£639.70
2	Doncaster (Doncaster)	£629.30
3	Rotherham	£598.80

So, is Doncaster a nice place to live?

* Probably.